World

Nigeria,July 3:Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed nearly 150 people including children in north-east Nigeria.

Eyewitnesses say dozens of militants stormed the village of Kukawa near Lake Chad on Wednesday evening, killing 97 people including women and children, then mowing down men and children while they prayed in mosques and shooting women preparing food at home.

"They wiped out the immediate family of my uncle ... They killed his children, about five of them," Kolo said.

A fisherman who witnessed the attack corroborated the death toll.

Babami Alhaji Kolo, another witness in Kukawa who fled to the state capital Maiduguri, said more than 50 militants had stormed the village.

"The terrorists first descended on Muslim worshippers in various mosques who were observing the Maghrib prayer shortly after breaking their fast," he said.

"They spared nobody. In fact, while some of the terrorists waited and set most of the corpses on fire, others proceeded to houses and shot indiscriminately at women who were preparing food," he said.

Malami Abdulkareem, an Arabic teacher in Kukawa, said some of the victims were as young as four.

"The attackers did not spare even children between four and 12 years old who went to mosques with their fathers," he said.

"I saw at least nine kids who were killed in two mosques."

A military source in Maiduguri, who refused to be named, confirmed the attack but could not yet give a death toll.

"The military responded with aerial bombardments on terrorist positions," he said, without giving further details.